Heimerdinger Build

Table of Contents

Quick Reference

Here is a section for quick reference if you are alt tabbed or have locked in Heimy as your choice for the game. This section can help steer you in the right direction if you did not have enough time to read my entire guide.

Runes: OR

Masteries:
9.0.21 (Pick up the magic pen in offense, and go down the utility tree picking up the relevant points for your summoners spells)

Introduction

Heimerdinger is hands down the best tower pushing champion in the game. Early game especially, if you are in mid with Heimerdinger, it is well within your ability to destroy the first tower before you recall even once, thus giving you somewhere around 2.2 to even 3k gold to go on a shopping spree. Heimerdinger is support and a caster, so use both of these aspects to the fullest. He can provide 3 CC options, blind, stun, and slow, as well as splash damage with the final rank of his turrets.

He is a tank, but usually only early game. With his passive health regeneration, he can take hits here and there from the enemy in mid, making them use up their mana and force them to recall or lose their ability to hold you off from severely damaging their tower. Explore the revered inventor and experience the joy of letting the other team eat your ingenuity!

On that note, this is my very first guide, but a well informed one I believe, so do not flame me. If you have a problem with the guide, leave that in the comments box and say it in a constructive, non-hateful tone. Thank You, Jorgdum.

Changes Made: 11/30 9:23 AM: Extended the Farming section of the guide to include specific strategies.
12/01 1:07 PM: Introduction expanded to include tank info on Heimerdinger.
12/06 1:30 PM: Included a Banshee's Veil in the end of the items section
for survivability purposes.
12/08 1:47 PM: Gave the guide an entire section devoted to building Heimerdinger as a tank.
Not necessarily very detailed but gives suggestions on how to
accomplish a tank build.
Heimerdinger.
1/18 1:21 PM: Updated Heimerdinger's abilities to include the buff they all received
from the recent patch.
1/8 1:42 PM: Changed Greater Glyph of Potency to Greater Glyph of Focus
1/8 1:54 PM: Updated "Working in the Team" section to include information
on Heimerdinger's turrets ignoring dodge chance.
1/24 9:44 PM: Updated Yellow runes to Greater Seal of Clarity
thanks to Juggernaughty
4/23 2:30 PM: Finally included a much needed quick reference guide at the beginning
4/23 7:12 PM: Gave the guide a small overhaul, fixed grammar mistakes, updated item relevancy, and changed some items. Also did a minor change to the "Tank Heimerdinger" Section of the guide.

Still incredible even after nerf, because nerf was balanced. Sacrificing a turret for increased survivability of the turrets you still have. These are your primary amazing pushing tools.

These recently received a major buff. Heimerdinger can now store up to 2 turrets once rank 3 is achieved, and can place both turrets within around 1-1.5 seconds of each other. This is great for team fights. Heimer can have 2 turrets out at a time, that is all. He cannot store up more ammo after he places his two turrets and achieve 3 or 4 on the battlefield. Unfortunate, but not a big deal.

Good for hitting champs who get too close to your turrets for comfort. If they chase you, kite them behind your turrets, slap em with a rocket and let your turrets go to town early game. Late game these are great for large amounts of burst damage on up to three champs at once.

Regularly fires 3 rockets. UPGRADE!!! increases this to 5 while it is active.

[spell=CH-1 Concussion Grenade]

What this skill shot lacks in speed, it makes up for in its effects. Although slow, it allows the possibility for 3 things to happen, and all at once if you are good at aiming it. It allows Damage, Blind, and Stun all at once if you hit it dead on, which you will get all 3 often in big team fights, so use this ability to help out your allies as well as help with your own burst damage.

GREAT ultimate. Passively reduces cooldown reduction, which effectively reduces the need for runes in cooldown reduction. Is the remainder of your team retreating from a team fight and being chased? Simply activate your ultimate, and make the other team wonder why they are having trouble catching you. The damage done to them will go unnoticed, sometimes even allowing your team to turn around and get some kills even after retreating.

Edit: This ultimate got even better! It still applies the heal/slow shots to your turrets, but now buffs your other abilities. While UPGRADE!!! is active, you now fire off 5 instead of 3 rockets, and your [spell_icon=CH-1 Concussion Grenade] now travels much faster.

Masteries + Runes

9/0/21

For Masteries, make sure you get the magic penetration in offense, and dump the rest into Utility, taking improved Teleport and Ghost, as you will be needing them both.

Greater Mark of Insight x9
Magic penetration here is obvious. Heimerdinger's damage output is almost all magic, and therefore should be focused on getting through the enemie's magic resist. Greater Seal of Clarity x9
Mana Per level is definitely the way to go with Heimer. As you start with a meki pendant,your early game regen is definitely enough to sustain you through the early game. Late game, with Archangels and possibly Deathfire Grasp, you can have up to around 70 mana regen per 5, not even factoring in Golem Buff, which you should keep getting throughout the game. Greater Glyph of Focus x9
These Glyphs coupled with the passive on Heimerdinger's ultimate give him almost full cooldown reduction. This will allow the ammo for turrets to come up more often allowing faster lane control and major help in longer team fights or longer team lane pushing. Greater Quintessence of Insight x3
I take these because any caster could always use some extra magic pen.
OR one can take Greater Quintessence of Fortitude x3 for the extra early survivability

Items

Here is the build route I usually take with Heimerdinger

1. [item_icon=Meki Pendant] + x2
1.5 For tank route, build [item_icon=Meki Pendant] into
2. +
2b.
3.
3b.
3c. If you are great at farming and maybe getting kills/assists/destroying towers, get both step 3 items.
4. +
4.5
5. (Against Heavy Magic Resist) OR + or
6.
6b. If you are going tank route, pick up a and maybe [item_icon=Banshee's Veil instead of

Reasons for build:

(For reasons for tank build, see "Tank Heimerdinger" section of the guide)

1. Early game, Heimerdinger thirsts for mana, as his turrets begin with costing 120 mana each, going up to 140 at rank 5. Meki Pendant, your runes and masteries should help you stay in lane long enough to accomplish the 2nd step.

2. By this time you should be in the neighborhood of level 10-12 and have enough gold to afford and .

3. Next, you should have enough gold for and possibly to build towards .

4. After that, you should have enough gold to afford a completion of and purchase for your .

4.5 If you are feeling cocky and are getting some assists and even kills, you can take . Personally I do not use very often and do not find it necessary for Heimerdinger, you can take it if you really like the item and are doing well during the match, but by all means do not prioritize it over . You may get this before but never before .

5. After completing your you should have enough for . You make the decision on which you need more. If you are having no trouble surviving, go the route first. If you want to punish the enemy dps for targeting you and you are having trouble surviving in general, go the route first.

6. Now you have 5 good items.

7. Granting the game goes long enough, get or or if the enemy has a lot of CC depending on which you did not get previously.

The is for the enemy dps that wants to focus you down first. The armor along with the passive on this item will give Heimerdinger tons of survivability in team fights.
Your final Item list has a few different possible endings

or
or
or

Note: Depending on length of game, you may have the first two endings, or you may just be able to get the last two endings. Sometimes you may only get 4 items because the game will be so short.

For tank route end build should look something like this:

Tank Heimerdinger

Heimerdinger can be played as a tank, but is usually only a gimmick, and I never play this way, but if you would like info on how to go about this, here are a few things I thought can work.

Heimerdinger's passive can serve to make him survive early game. It gives increasing health regeneration not only to you but to your turrets, towers, and fellow champions.

This passive is what gives Heimerdinger a lengthy stage 1 staying power. This also makes health potions unnecessary in the beginning laning phase. If you wish to play Heimerdinger as a tank, here are a few items I've found to be useful for him.

First of all boots: For a tank build you should take Magic resist and reduced CC on Heimer is necessary for this build.= not only does it complement with magic resist but it also gives health, cooldown reduction, and most importantly it increases health regeneration effects.

Here is an analysis I found on the item forum for the item:
"Spirit Visage Analysis!

Spirit Visage is an excellent item for many reasons, the least of which it is very cheap on champions that are, traditionally, the most gold starved in the game(tanks).

Before we start, we need to figure out what the item is truly worth. You do this by finding out what a point of a stat is worth for gold. You do this by dividing the cost of an item against it's stats, so for example:

Null-magic Mantle is 400g. 400 / 24 = 16.xx. That would mean each point of Magic Resist is worth 16 gold. IMPORTANT NOTE: NULL-MAGIC MANTLE IS AN OUTLIER. Other magic resist items value magic resist at 15 gold per MR. Cheap items are traditionally "worse" by slim margins than their more expensive counterparts. Since Null-Magic Mantle is the outlier here, we will be using the standard of 15g per MR(as is the value on other items such as Negatron Cloak)

Health Regen is 30g per Health Per 5 following the same formula. Like Null-Magic Mantle, Rejuv Bead is the outlier and maths out to be 31g per health per 5. Again, we will be using the standard 30health per 5 instead of the outlier of 31.

Using the standards instead of the outlier is important because Spirit Visage is an "Expensive" item and ceases to follow the rules set forth by "cheap" items.

Now then, on to the meat part.

For combining Null-Magic Mantle and Rejuv Bead into Spirit Visage, you gain 9MR and 12 Health Per 5. The Combine Cost is 600g. Thus: 9*15=135 and 12*30=360. 360+135=495. So, you gain 495 gold worth of stats by combining your items. Now you have to make up 105g more to break even.

Cooldown Reduction is difficult to value. There are no items with JUST CDR to value the stat at, so you're forced to use combined items to determine value, none of which agree on the same amount(stinger values CDR at 2g per 1%, Fiendish codex values it at 20g per1%, etc). So we'll set that aside for now.

Healing is also difficult! The more regen you have, the more 25% is worth. So, let's make it easy. 25% of 20health per 5(the amount on this item) is 5 health per 5. 5*30=150. How about that, 150g! 45 more than we need to break even on stats.

That means the Cooldown Reduction on this item is actually valueless: it's given to you for free.

That also means that any point of health regen or healing you receive is also free: The amount needed to make this item "worth it" is right there on the item itself

This is an excellent tanking item. Very very good value for gold.
Spirit Visage Analysis! Spirit Visage is an excellent item for many reasons, the least of which it is very cheap on champions that are, traditionally, the most gold starved in the game(tanks). Before we start, we need to figure out what the item is truly worth. You do this by finding out what a point of a stat is worth for gold. You do this by dividing the cost of an item against it's stats, so for example: Null-magic Mantle is 400g. 400 / 24 = 16.xx. That would mean each point of Magic Resist is worth 16 gold. IMPORTANT NOTE: NULL-MAGIC MANTLE IS AN OUTLIER. Other magic resist items value magic resist at 15 gold per MR. Cheap items are traditionally "worse" by slim margins than their more expensive counterparts. Since Null-Magic Mantle is the outlier here, we will be using the standard of 15g per MR(as is the value on other items such as Negatron Cloak) Health Regen is 30g per Health Per 5 following the same formula. Like Null-Magic Mantle, Rejuv Bead is the outlier and maths out to be 31g per health per 5. Again, we will be using the standard 30health per 5 instead of the outlier of 31.

Using the standards instead of the outlier is important because Spirit Visage is an "Expensive" item and ceases to follow the rules set forth by "cheap" items. Now then, on to the meat part. For combining Null-Magic Mantle and Rejuv Bead into Spirit Visage, you gain 9MR and 12 Health Per 5. The Combine Cost is 600g. Thus: 9*15=135 and 12*30=360. 360+135=495. So, you gain 495 gold worth of stats by combining your items. Now you have to make up 105g more to break even. Cooldown Reduction is difficult to value. There are no items with JUST CDR to value the stat at, so you're forced to use combined items to determine value, none of which agree on the same amount(stinger values CDR at 2g per 1%, Fiendish codex values it at 20g per1%, etc).

So we'll set that aside for now. Healing is also difficult! The more regen you have, the more 25% is worth. So, let's make it easy. 25% of 20health per 5(the amount on this item) is 5 health per 5. 5*30=150. How about that, 150g! 45 more than we need to break even on stats. That means the Cooldown Reduction on this item is actually valueless: it's given to you for free. That also means that any point of health regen or healing you receive is also free: The amount needed to make this item "worth it" is right there on the item itself This is an excellent tanking item. Very very good value for gold."

Credits to Senthir for the analysis.

As you can see this item does very much good for very little gold. Take Heimerdinger's passive. At max it gives 25 health per 5. A 20% increase from Spirit Visage gives you an extra five, and that means an extra one per 1, so in essence, with this item you have 6 health per every one second. That's pretty awesome!

Another item to be good on Tank Heimerdinger is . This item passively increases Heimerdinger's max stats as well as giving flat health, mana and AP to boot. Perfect for Heimy.

I did mention in the main build, but for a tank build, Heimerdinger does not really stack armor, so you will not be needing it. Two other items good for tank Heimy and still giving him good stats for hitting hard.

One item for Health and AP is of course [item_icon=Rylai's Scepter]. The Passive slow in spell hit is also good. You can hit a fleeing enemy with some rockets, making it easier to score a hit with your skill shot.

Another great item for tank Heimerdinger, regardless of how the battle is going, is . This makes Heimy an unbelievable survivor in battle. Since Heimy does not need burst damage to be effective, he can be a great supporter in battles with this item and the other items mentioned in this section.

Skilling Order

His turrets are obviously most important so rank them up until you have 3 ranks invested in them and get your ultimate upgrade levels, allowing you to push most effectively. I prefer now to leave the turrets at rank 3 for a couple of reasons. Rank 3, after the patch is when you can now store and place 2 turrets, and they are powerful enough at this stage to help you survive and push relatively safely. The second reason is because is rockets deal great damage once they are ranked up enough, and are reliable at poking the enemy champion and can even get to the point where you are zoning them out effectively. I take one rank in Concussion Grenades at Lvl 2 in case I need to escape early on, so i can stunt he enemy or blind them (this works well against ashe's frost shots).

Summoner Abilities

and

Ghost will usually only serve you to escape, you won't really need it to chase unless you really want the kill. Ghost is also your only escape method, unless you are able to stun your chasers with [spell_icon=CH-1 Concussion Grenade].
Teleport will help you in a couple situations. When you recall for items and replenishment, it will often cause your lane enemy to recall or they will already be dead, both instances giving you opportunities to take advantage of that absence. So you can use that opportunity to teleport back to your lane and finish pushing the turret if you haven't destroyed it yet. Teleport also helps you if you need to quickly get to a lane to help push that turret as well.

Other possibilites you can use this, but ghost is generally better to chase and escape with on Heimerdinger this is good for finishing off champs who narrowly escape your turrets Ok spell to take, but with the items runes and masteries, Heimerdinger does not need this. With the [item_icon=Meki Pendant] and the x2 I can usually stay in the lane until I get 2.2-3k gold, especially if I use my abilities conservatively.

Do not take: But I can heal my turrets if they get too low and heal me! Stop. Your ult heals your turrets, and if you need to heal as heimer, chances are you will die anyway
[spell_icon=Fortify]You shouldn't have them at the turret you are defending, really. I shouldn't need to explain this -_-

Pros / Cons

Pros:
1. Amazing Lane Pusher
2. Skill shot with 2 CC effects and good damage output
3. Turrets with increased health, magic resist reduction, and splash damage
4. can be support and a burst damage nuke caster at the same time

Cons:
1. Although good on health and health regen, is still very frail
2. Very few escape methods
3. You can find better casters and nukers
4. Some champs like Karthus, Ezreal, Kog Maw and Tristana outrange your turrets, and thus are good matches for Heimerdinger in mid lane

Working in the team

Heimerdinger is great in team fights. Always try to have 2 turrets stored up for the fight. Place them in the beginning of the fight, and once the fight is in full swing throw your grenade in the cluster of enemies so they will at least be blind, and maybe even stunned. Throw your rockets immediately after the grenade, and you may even pick up a kill. Note: Far along enough in the game, your turrets can be doing around 100 damage per shot.

In another situation, Heimderdinger is important if your team is getting ganked. He can stop the gank with stun and blind and throw a turret down or already have one in place to turn the tide of the gank on to the enemy.

Note: Heimderdinger's turrets can act as extra minions when pushing a tower giving you and your teammates more time to work on the towers.

Note: Heimerdingers turrets attack with magic damage. Because of this, dodge chance does not apply to the enemy when being hit by the turrets. Thus, your turrets are amazing counters to the likes of Jax and other champions who are attempting to maximize their dodge chance throughout the game.

Farming

Heimerdinger is one of the best farmers in the game. By the time you recall the first time around lvl 10 or 12, Heimerdinger can have 2.2-3k gold without even killing anybody (some of the gold may come from a tower you destroy and or towers your teammates destroy). In early game, what you want to do is get to mid as fast as possible and immediately place a turret where the first waves of minions will meet in battle. Your turrets can often last hit the minions by themselves, but it is always good to help them finish em off so you can get the gold. Late game farming for Heimerdinger is relatively easy. Throw a grenade at the group of wraith creeps on either side or both, and you get easy gold that way. If you happen to pass by the wolf creep, fire your rockets. This serves 2 purposes: Getting gold, and clearing the wolves in case you or your team gets ganked in the jungle. This way, the wolves will not take targets away from your rockets and you will be able to hit 3 enemy champs for full damage output.

Also, when pushing a lane after a team battle, and a good number of their team is dead, you can clear an entire minion wave by yourself, helping your team get to the turret faster. Throw a [spell_icon=CH-1 Concussion Grenade] at the caster minions in back, and fire your at the melee minions. All of them should be dead allowing your team to proceed to destroying the tower.

Summary

Heimerdinger is a great champion. I am not saying this is the only way to build and play him, but it is a way I've found most effective, going on many different win streaks of about 10 wins each playing and building him this way. As you can see he is a great pusher and support, and if played smart enough a brilliant killer and CCer. Take up your wrench and reinvent the Fields of Justice as Heimerdinger: The Revered Inventor!

Suggestions

Here I shall give credentials to those who make suggestions for changes or let me know I'm wrong on something. Suggestions and corrections shall obviously go in the comments box, and on that note, comments will be greatly appreciated.